In the ancient forest of Leitrim in Ireland, Joe Keenan and his son, Finbar, never expected to find a corpse. But as the police investigate, they find far more than one body – dozens have been buried on the site over the past years. While the local police’s distrust of the traveller community puts Keenan in the frame, criminal behaviourist Jessie Boyle is convinced that there is far more going on than a feud with another traveller family. Someone – something – is stalking the woods, someone who has never been seen, and someone who is escalating their spree…

Meanwhile – sort of – in the Gloucestershire town of Cinderfield (definitely not Cinderford), women are going missing in the local forest. Legends abound of the so-called Cinderman, but forensic specialist Laughton Rees has other ideas – she doesn’t believe in ghosts. Adele Friar is desperate to find her sister Maddie, and joining forces with Laughton, they find themselves hunting for a deadly killer who hunts in the shadows.

Yes, catching up with the holiday reading still with two reviews for the price of one, and I’ve picked another pair of books with similarities, Obviously there are similar themes here but there’s something more fundamental that I wanted to mention.

The Clearing is the second book featuring Laughton Rees after the outstanding Dark Objects, one of my favourite thrillers of last year. And to say that I was disappointed by The Clearing would be something of an understatement. It’s something that I’ve noticed recently – the second book in a series syndrome. Dark Objects was as much about Laughton as it was about the case, as her personal life was intertwined with it. Here, she’s “just” the investigator, and the author seems more concerned with Adele than with Laughton, who seemed to me to be almost dropped into the plot.

This is a very atmospheric novel, a dark, almost-supernatural thriller, and people who enjoy that sort of book will love this. But it wasn’t what I was expecting and hence my disappointment.

Lost Graves is the second book featuring Jessie Boyle and… well, I could almost say the same thing about that one. I enjoyed it a bit more than The Clearing, as we have more than one recurring central character and the team set up here is interesting to read about. However Jessie’s personal journey from the first book has again been put on hold for this one, and the story didn’t grip me as much as the first book.

I suppose the question would be, would I read Book Three in these series. The answer would be a cautious “yes” – but I’d be in no rush.

Many thanks to HarperCollins for the e-review copy for The Clearing, out now in hardback and ebook.